Beach shelters



Aug. 22, 1961 F. SCHWARTZ BEACH SHELTERS Filed May 1, 1959 Ifa INVEN OR.

2,997,277 BEACH SHELTERS Frederick Schwartz, Brooklyn, N.Y. (10 Schuyler Drive, Commack, N.Y.) Filed May 1, 1959, Ser. No. 810,355 1 Claim. (Cl. 256-24) This invention relates to beach shelters and more particularly to portable beach shelters which are adapted to be erected on the beach as a barrier or protection against the wind.

An object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved beach shelter having, in addition to the advantage of being easily erected or dismantled and easily transported in a reduced compact mass, the further advantage that it will provide a snug partial enclosure which will deflect the Wind without any flapping or fluttering of the Wall of the shelter.

In the common forms of such shelter walls erectable against the wind, if the material of which the wall of the shelter is made is a normally flat sheet of canvas or plastic it is readily susceptible to flapping and billowing in the wind and there is apt to be considerable leakage of Wind through or under parts of the shelter, and there is the ever present likelihood that the entire shelter may be blown over or uprooted. In the case of the instant shelter the resilient plastic sheet material which is pre-tensed to tend to wind itself into a spiral or a roll, of which the shelter body or wall is formed and the consequent variable arcuate configuration of the erected wall, are such that wind leakage can be prevented and that Wind directed upon the back of the shelter is deflected so that the resultant Wind pressure against the shelter is greatly minimized with consequent stability of the shelter.

The above broad as well as additional and more specific objects will be clarified in the following description wherein reference numerals refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawing is intended solely for the purpose of illustration and that it is therefore neither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily to any or all of the exact details of construction shown or described except insofar as they may be deemed essential to the invention.

Referring briefly to the drawing, FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an embodiment of the invention in the form of an erected beach shelter.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating one of the posts which support the shelter.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the post.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of FIG. 6 with the ball fastener shown in full.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary enlargement of FIG. 1 looking toward the shelter from the inside of the enclosure.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary enlarged front view of a modi fied form of the shelter wall.

FIG. 8 is a vertical sectional view through the wall of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is an end view of the pre-tensed plastic sheet per se in the rolled up position which it assumes upon being detached from the supporting posts.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 10 in- States Patent 0 i 2,997,277 Patented Aug. 22, 1961.

dicates the shelter wall in erected position, the same bemg formed of an elongated strip 11 of suitable or desired length and Width of a relatively thick relatively stiff resilient plastic material which has been pre-tensed to tend to wind itself into a roll as indicated by the numeral 12 in FIG. 9. The sheet 11 will assume a natural arcuate form as shown in FIG. 1 when unrolled and supported vertically, and will upon removal of the supports naturally reassume the roll form of FIG. 9. The degree of curvature of the unrolled sheet or shelter wall is of course variable according to the positioning of the supporting posts 13. But the characteristic of the pre-tensed sheet to tend to reassume its rolled up shape assures an arcuate form to the shelter wall 10 when it is supported by the spaced posts 13. It is also obvious that the erected wall 10 will possess a degree of rigidity absent from a wall made of a canvas or other similar or woven fabric, or even of a flat sheet of plastic material, and the wall 10 is also impervious to air or Wind as well as water or moisture.

When the shelter is erected with the convex side thereof facing into the Wind, it is obvious that the oncoming wind will be deflected smoothly in opposite directions along the wall so that its force is weakened as far as any tendency to overturn the wall is concerned. And of course persons positioned within the'space on the concave side of the wall are well protected from the wind, since in the erection of the wall its lower edge is positioned either flush with the surface of the beach sand or even imbedded therein for a distance.

One example of supporting posts is illustrated at 13, having ball-headed screws or fasteners 14- vertically spaced along one side thereof. These fasteners have balls 15 on their outer ends and adjacent thereto annular grooves 16. At longitudinally spaced intervals the Wall 10 is provided with similarly spaced eyelet-forming grommets 17. The fasteners 14 in the form illustrated are preferably entirely made of a pliable plastic material. Thus, to attach the sheet or wall to the post it is necessary only to force the eyelet 17 past the yieldable ball 15 into the position shown in FIG. 5.

In the form of erected shelter illustrated the posts have been shown positioned outside the shelter wall, that is on the convex side of the wall. They may of course be positioned instead on the concave side of the wall, not shown.

In FIGS. 7 and 8 a slightly modified form of the plastic material of the wall is indicated at 11a, wherein the strip of material is provided with a plurality of longitudinal ridges or corrugations as reinforcements, 19.

In use, the posts 13 are stuck into the sand of the beach to a suflicient depth to assure their stability and, as mentioned above, the wall 10 may have its lower edge imbedded in the sand and thus prevent wind leakage under the shelter.

Thus a very practical and eflicient concavo-convex wind shelter has been provide, Whose radius of curvature is variable or adjustable depending upon the spacing of the posts in the ground, which assures stability against the wind and protection of the persons positioned within it. When dismantled the shelter forms a small and light weight mass or parcel for easy transportation. If desired, the posts may be left attached to the strip 11 when the shelter is dismantled, or they may be carried separately or even placed within the central space 18 forming the core of the rolled up strip.

The invention having thus been described, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is as follows:

An upright Wind shelter including an arcuate rectangular strip of relatively stiff resilient plastic material pretensed to wind itself into a roll and spaced posts secured to the strip transversely of the striphaving extensions beyond one longitudinal edge of the strip adapted to be driven into the ground, the posts having spaced tiers of ball fasteners thereon and the strip having complementarily spaced tiers of eyelet-forming grommets slipped 4 over the ball fasteners to secure the posts to the strip, the strip when unwound from the roll and with the post extensions driven into the ground forming an arcuate wall whose radius of curvature is variable and predetermined by the spacing of the posts in the ground.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,006,796 Rupp Oct. 24, 1911 2,397,801 Mitchell Apr. 2, 1946 2,709,290 Rosenthal May 31, 1955 2,872,161 Olson Feb. 3, 1959 

